Good Girls Don't Date Rock Stars(47)

He walked out to his truck and drove through town, hoping to catch her during a slow time in the shop, maybe take her to lunch and talk like adults. As he parked in The Local Bean’s parking lot, he saw Mike march down the sidewalk and yank open the door to her shop in an obvious temper.

Wonder what in the hell she did to him.



GREAT. MAYBE I should start listening to Gracie’s advice.

“It’s not what you think,” Gemma started. Her hands were shaking so bad, she gripped the counter to steady herself, hoping it would make them stop.

“Oh, thank God, because for a minute there, I thought you’d spent all weekend with your ex and then married him, all without telling me. Oh, wait, that’s exactly what happened.”

“It was a mistake. We just got caught up and had a little too much to drink. I didn’t know he was going to come after me,” Gemma said.

Then Travis walked in, and Gemma wanted to crawl under the counter. Mike glanced back at him for a second before facing her again, his expression darker.

“Great, the gang’s all here,” he said sarcastically. “So, you just accidentally fell into bed with him?”

Gemma met Travis’s eyes, and he raised an eyebrow. She was completely mortified by the whole situation and, feeling cornered, snapped, “No, I meant to sleep with him.”

“You just accidentally married him? How do you accidentally marry someone? I don’t care how drunk you were, you knew what you were doing, even subconsciously, and I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”

“Michael . . .” Gemma reached out for her friend, the man who had stayed up with her during emergency-room visits and had taught Charlie how to fish. The man who had held her hand when her dad died. She never should have kept this from him.

I really am selfish.

“If that wasn’t bad enough, I kept your secret like an idiot, when I should have told Travis ten years ago,” Mike said.

“I agree. I really ought to kick your ass for that,” Travis said dryly.

“It wasn’t your secret to tell,” Gemma said, wishing she didn’t have to deal with both of them at once. “And it wasn’t even a real marriage, so I figured we’d get an annulment and no one would have to know.”

“But me, Gemma. Why wouldn’t you tell me? I’ve been there for you for everything!” Mike said.

“I didn’t want to hurt you,” she said helplessly.

“I’ve dealt with a lot from you, including when you started dating other men. I got the friend speech and I survived that. So why was it so hard to tell me this?” Mike asked.

She didn’t have a reason, at least not one she was willing to say out loud.

Because of the way Travis makes me feel.

“I’m so sick of being your little lapdog, doing everything you want and need without anything in return, even common f*cking courtesy. You know what, she’s all yours.” Mike backed away from her and rushed out of the shop, leaving Gemma alone with Travis.

Gemma started to go after him, but Travis stopped her with a hand on her arm. “Let him go.”

Biting her lip, she realized she did that a lot with the men she loved: Travis, her dad, and now Michael.



“THIS IS SUCH a mess,” Gemma said, dashing the tears from her cheeks.

“Yeah, it is,” Travis said, wondering how he could feel sorry for her. From what he’d caught of the conversation, she’d kept Michael in the dark about their marriage, and had taken him for granted. Anyone else and he’d have judged her harshly. But he still had a hard time believing Gemma would be deliberately cruel.

Sniffling, she grabbed a box of tissue off the desk. “Apparently, I have issues being honest with people I care about. God, I am such an *,” she said.

Travis didn’t argue, since he’d pretty much been cursing her all night, but for some reason, even if it wasn’t directed at him, Gemma’s remorse made him a little less angry with her.

“Mike obviously cared a lot about you to keep Charlie a secret. Why didn’t you ever give him a chance?” Travis asked, curious.

Moving behind the desk to close her laptop, she said, “I knew it wouldn’t work.”

He wondered if there really was someone else she was holding a torch for; not Michael, of course, but had her hesitations in Vegas really all been about Charlie?

“What about someone else? You must have dated other men.”

“I’ve had a few dates, but no one ever fit in with our life,” she said.

There was no way she had lived like a nun, though. “So, no one serious?”

“I said no.” She sounded impatient, and he smiled. He had told himself he didn’t want to fight, but he kind of liked Gemma when she was bristly and irritable. Her cheeks got rosy and her mossy eyes darkened to the color of pond water when she snapped. It was hot.

I need to stop thinking with my cock or she’s never going to go for this.

“Good, I’m glad you aren’t seeing anyone,” he said, before adding, “That makes my proposition less awkward.”


“Proposition?” Her tone was suspicious, and he bit back a smile.

He’d had no idea he was going to bring up his harebrained scheme until a few seconds earlier, but he really did think it was their best option for keeping the peace. He just hoped she would be smart enough to realize it.